Hagar

[katy_kt]

Okay…I asked this same question to an Apologist a few hours ago, but I know that they will take time to answer, so I decided to also post it here.

Now someone told me that Abraham had more than one wife, the other being Hagar. The verse given to me is Gen 16:3, where some translations say that Hagar was given to him as his wife, and others use the word concubine. The Hebrew word used is ishshâ.

Could someone help me with my argument that Hagar is NOT Abraham’s wife. Also why some Bibles use the word wife in Gen 16:3.

 

[Loren_1of6]

Abraham did have more than one wife. It has been my understanding that Hagar was Sarah’s maid, and so was concubine to Abraham when she got pregnant with Ishmael.

Genesis 25, however, tells us that after Sarah’s death Abraham married another woman:

Genesis 25
Abraham’s Death
1Now Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah.
2(A)She bore to him Zimran and Jokshan and Medan and Midian and Ishbak and Shuah.

3Jokshan became the father of Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim and Letushim and Leummim.

4The sons of Midian were Ephah and Epher and Hanoch and Abida and Eldaah. All these were the sons of Keturah.

5(B)Now Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac;

6but to the sons of his concubines, Abraham gave gifts while he was still living, and (C)sent them away from his son Isaac eastward, to the land of the east.

7These are all the years of Abraham’s life that he lived, (D)one hundred and seventy-five years.

8Abraham breathed his last and died (E)in a ripe old age, an old man and satisfied with life; and he was (F)gathered to his people.

9Then his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in (G)the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, facing Mamre,

10(H)the field which Abraham purchased from the sons of Heth; there Abraham was buried with Sarah his wife.

11It came about after the death of Abraham, that (I)God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac lived by (J)Beer-lahai-roi.

Descendants of Ishmael
12Now these are the records of the generations of (K)Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maid, bore to Abraham;

(from www.biblegateway.com)

This passage seems to say that Abraham was married to Sarah then, after her death, to Keturah, but also that he treated several other women as his wife. The reaction to Hagar and Ishmael earlier in Genesis is one of the first hints outside of Eden about the importance of marriage to God.